My guess is also towards RAM disk, especially given that extremely high CPU usage number. (although HDTune always shows CPU usage as -1%, negative, for me )
Unless PCI-E 2.0 x32 or PCI-E I/O controllers exist??? I wouldn't be surprised though, after poking FPGAs for a few months and hearing about some outrageous things various research groups are doing to squeeze even more gigabits / second out of everything that there's a reason to make faster.

__________________"The computer programmer says they should drive the car around the block and see if the tire fixes itself." [src]

Here is a thought, considering the relatively cheap cost of ram these days could you not make say a 8GB ramdisk and through something like a virtual xp on it or something? Or even a game of some sort or hell even photoshop or other similar products?

__________________

"Nothing sucks more than that moment during an argument when you realize you're wrong."